In the last hours, Eduardo Feinmann returned to a record that marked one of the most tense moments of 2017: Jorge Sampaoli’s public claim for the appearance of Santiago Maldonado. The fragment corresponds to a conference in which the coach, recently arrived at the Argentine National Team, asked that the incident be clarified and that the young Mapuche appear alive. “We have to have a better country, where these things don’t happen anymore. I hope we find it soon,” he had said then, joining the social request that was going through the country.
That gesture by Sampaoli occurred amid strong public and political pressure. The coach, who had just taken office with great sporting expectations, used his presentation to show solidarity with Maldonado’s family and with the claim for his whereabouts. According to Página/12, the coach’s message was added to other statements by sports and cultural figures who that year demanded a response from the State.
The video circulated again following the final of the Copa Sudamericana, in which Lanús beat Atlético Mineiro – his current team – and reached Feinmann’s account, who decided to comment on it and share it with a blunt message. From his profile on The phrase generated mixed reactions and revived the discussion about the attitude of the then DT and the media treatment of the case.
Feinmann’s intervention thus added to the multiple re-readings that, eight years later, continue to emerge about one of the most sensitive episodes on the recent public agenda.
